Applying a function to a password to determine an expected response

ABSTRACT

A system may generate a seed one-time password (OTP). The system may also perform steps including transmitting the seed OTP to a user device, receiving a response OTP from the user device, and calculating an expected response OTP by applying a function to the seed OTP. The system may then compare the response OTP to the expected response OTP and send a result in response to comparing the response OTP to the expected response OTP.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is a continuation of, claims priority to and thebenefit of, U.S. Ser. No. 15/680,585 filed Aug. 18, 2017 and entitled“EXPECTED RESPONSE ONE-TIME PASSWORD.” The '585 application is acontinuation of, claims priority to and the benefit of, U.S. Pat. No.9,769,157 which issued Sep. 19, 2017 (aka U.S. Ser. No. 14/860,420 filedSep. 21, 2015) and entitled “SYSTEMS AND METHODS FOR SECURE ONE-TIMEPASSWORD VALIDATION.” Both of which are hereby incorporated herein intheir entirety for all purposes.

FIELD

The present disclosure relates to information security based on one-timepasswords.

BACKGROUND

User authentication systems play an important security role in dataprotection, as sensitive data is increasingly stored behind electronicauthentication walls. Mobile devices, computers, and secure rooms mayall be protected by various types of authentication. Many mobile devicesmay authenticate users using a one-time password as part of amulti-factored approach, for example. The one-time passwords are oftenshort numbers generated securely and sent to a user via text message oremail for entry into a web form. The entry of the correct numberverifies possession of the registered mobile device and the user is thenvalidated.

Typical one-time passwords have limitations ranging from userinconveniences to high-risk vulnerabilities that have been exposed inthe past. Users may enter the one-time password manually into a web formor application to verify receipt, a process subject to the inconvenienceof typographical errors. Similarly, users that do not regularly deleteearlier one-time passwords may select an incorrect one-time password forentry. One-time passwords are also relatively short in many cases (e.g.,four to six digits). Short one-time passwords may pose security risks asthe number may be more easily guessed. Additionally, one-time passwordsmay be subject to attacks by stingray or malware that can enableattackers to retrieve the one-time password from the user device beforethe user knows the key is present. Traditional one-time passwords mayalso be vulnerable to man-in-the-middle (MIM) attacks where an attackerintercepts the one-time password and changes parameters of theinteraction before forwarding the altered payload along with theone-time password. OTP sent via text message also may not include asource identifier, as the OTP is sent without a return phone number, aprovider name, a url, or other indicator of where the OTP came from.

SUMMARY

A system, method, and computer readable medium (collectively, the“system”) is disclosed for one-time password authentication withimproved user experience and increased security. The system may comprisegenerating a seed one-time password (OTP), transmitting the seed OTP toa user device, receiving a response OTP from the user device, andcalculating an expected response OTP by applying a function to the seedOTP. The system may also compare the response OTP to the expectedresponse OTP and send a result in response to comparing the response OTPto the expected response OTP. This may create a challenge/response typeoperation rather than the traditional OTP implementation.

In various embodiments, the seed OTP may be device-bound to the userdevice. In that regard, the expected response OTP may also be generatedusing a device fingerprint of the user device. The response OTP may becalculated by a user device by applying the function to the seed OTP.The response OTP may further be transmitted by a user device to theprocessor in response to an authorization button being pressed. The seedOTP may be transmitted to the user device with an authorization payloadincluding at least one of a service identifier, a purpose, a time, adate, a merchant identifier, or an amount of the seed OTP for displaywith the authorization button. The result may include a successindicator in response to the response OTP matching the expected responseOTP.

The foregoing features and elements may be combined in variouscombinations without exclusivity, unless expressly indicated hereinotherwise. These features and elements as well as the operation of thedisclosed embodiments will become more apparent in light of thefollowing description and accompanying drawings.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION

The subject matter of the present disclosure is particularly pointed outand distinctly claimed in the concluding portion of the specification. Amore complete understanding of the present disclosure, however, may beobtained by referring to the detailed description and claims whenconsidered in connection with the drawing figures, wherein like numeralsdenote like elements.

FIG. 1 illustrates an exemplary authentication system using one-timepassword (OTP) communication, in accordance with various embodiments;

FIG. 2 illustrates an exemplary sequence diagram of processing andcommunication for OTP communication and authorization, in accordancewith various embodiments;

FIG. 3 illustrates an exemplary authorization screen for user approvalof OTP authentication, in accordance with various embodiments;

FIG. 4 illustrates an exemplary authentication success notificationscreen, in accordance with various embodiments;

FIG. 5 illustrates an exemplary authentication success notificationscreen, in accordance with various embodiments;

FIG. 6 illustrates an exemplary system comprising a user device, seedOTP provisioning server, and response OTP validation server inelectronic communication for OTP authorization, in accordance withvarious embodiments; and

FIG. 7 illustrates an exemplary process for OTP authorization by aservice provider, in accordance with various embodiments.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

The detailed description of various embodiments herein makes referenceto the accompanying drawings and pictures, which show variousembodiments by way of illustration. While these various embodiments aredescribed in sufficient detail to enable those skilled in the art topractice the disclosure, it should be understood that other embodimentsmay be realized and that logical and mechanical changes may be madewithout departing from the spirit and scope of the disclosure. Thus, thedetailed description herein is presented for purposes of illustrationonly and not of limitation. For example, the steps recited in any of themethod or process descriptions may be executed in any order and are notlimited to the order presented. Moreover, any of the functions or stepsmay be outsourced to or performed by one or more third parties.Furthermore, any reference to singular includes plural embodiments, andany reference to more than one component may include a singularembodiment.

As used herein, “match” or “associated with” or similar phrases mayinclude an identical match, a partial match, meeting certain criteria,matching a subset of data, a correlation, satisfying certain criteria, acorrespondence, an association, an algorithmic relationship and/or thelike. For example, a first fingerprint template may match a secondfingerprint template in response to the templates being sufficientlysimilar even though the fingerprint templates are not identical.Similarly, as used herein, “authenticate” or similar terms may includean exact authentication, a partial authentication, authenticating asubset of data, a correspondence, satisfying certain criteria, anassociation, an algorithmic relationship and/or the like.

With reference to FIG. 1, system 100 for OTP authentication andcommunication is shown, in accordance with various embodiments. System100 may use a primary communication band and a secondary communicationband different from the primary communication band. In that regard,system 100 may rely on out-of-band communication to deliver a OTP to atargeted device. For example, user device 102 may be in electroniccommunication with service provider 104 over network 108.

User device 102 may take the form of a computer or processor, or a setof computers/processors, although other types of computing units orsystems may be used, including laptops, notebooks, hand held computers,personal digital assistants, cellular phones, smart phones (e.g.,iPhone®, BlackBerry®, Android®, etc.) tablets, wearables (e.g., smartwatches and smart glasses), or any other device capable of receivingdata over network 108 and secondary network 110.

In various embodiments, network 108 may be a primary communication bandcomprising a private LAN network, the Internet, a cellular network, nearfield communication (NFC), a radio frequency (RF), and/or any suitableelectronic communication channel. Network 108 may also facilitatecommunication among the parties via other suitable communicationchannels, such as, for example, a telephone network, an extranet, anintranet, Internet, point of interaction device (point of sale device,personal digital assistant (e.g., iPhone®, Palm Pilot®, Blackberry®),cellular phone, kiosk, etc.), online communications, satellitecommunications, off-line communications, wireless communications,transponder communications, local area network (LAN), wide area network(WAN), virtual private network (VPN), networked or linked devices,keyboards, mice and/or any suitable communication or data inputmodality. Moreover, although the system is frequently described hereinas being implemented with TCP/IP communications protocols, the systemmay also be implemented using IPX, Appletalk, IP-6, NetBIOS, OSI, anytunneling protocol (e.g. IPsec, SSH), or any number of existing orfuture protocols. If the network is in the nature of a public network,such as the Internet, it may be advantageous to presume the network tobe insecure and open to eavesdroppers. Specific information related tothe protocols, standards, and application software utilized inconnection with the Internet is generally known to those skilled in theart and, as such, need not be detailed herein. See, for example, DILIPNAIK, INTERNET STANDARDS AND PROTOCOLS (1998); JAVA 2 COMPLETE, variousauthors, (Sybex 1999); DEBORAH RAY AND ERIC RAY, MASTERING HTML 4.0(1997); and LOSHIN, TCP/IP CLEARLY EXPLAINED (1997) and DAVID GOURLEYAND BRIAN TOTTY, HTTP, THE DEFINITIVE GUIDE (2002), the contents ofwhich are hereby incorporated by reference.

A network may be unsecure, thus, communication over the network mayutilize data encryption. Encryption may be performed by way of any ofthe techniques now available in the art or which may becomeavailable—e.g., Twofish, RSA, El Gamal, Schorr signature, DSA, PGP, PKI,GPG (GnuPG), and symmetric and asymmetric cryptosystems.

In various embodiments, user device 102 may also be in electroniccommunication with service provider 104 over a secondary network 110.Secondary network 110 may comprise the same or different communicationchannels than network 108 including one or more of a private LANnetwork, the Internet, a cellular network, near field communication(NFC), a radio frequency (RF), and/or any suitable communicationchannel. For example, user device 102 may be in communication withservice providers via network 108 (e.g., the Internet) to send andreceive data regarding a service, and user device 102 may also be incommunication with service providers 104 via secondary network 110(e.g., text message over a cellular network) to receive and/or send anOTP for authorization. In that regard, network 108 and secondary network110 may use different communication channels.

In various embodiments, service providers 104 may provide multipleservices including at least one secure service and at least oneauthorization service. For example, service providers may provide accessto individual identifying data, banking data, health data, financialdata, or any other private data tied to a user or organization. Serviceprovider 104 may further provide an authorization service using the OTPsystem. In that regard, system 100 may provide secure access tosensitive data and/or data manipulation access.

With reference to FIG. 2, a sequence diagram 200 of actions between userdevice 102, service provider 104, and backend 106 for providing secureaccess on user device 102 using one-time passwords is shown, inaccordance with various embodiments. Although service provider 104 andbackend 106 are illustrated separately, service provider 104 and backend106 may appear as a single entity to user device 102 and, in variousembodiments, may be executed by individual servers or the same server.User device 102 may begin the authorization process by requestingservice (Block 202) or otherwise initiating a service or applicationthat limits access using an OTP. The service request may include deviceidentifying information such as a device ID and/or a device fingerprint.The device ID and device fingerprint may be unique identifiers of userdevice 102 that tend to establish possession of a known device when usedin communication.

In various embodiments, user device 102 may send the request to serviceprovider 104. Service provider 104 may maintain, host, operate, and/orcommunicate with backend 106 protected from external networks behind afirewall with limited external access. Backend 106 may also be isolatedfrom external networks by being placed on a separate internal networktier from components with external access (i.e., Internet access).Service provider 104 may request a seed OTP (Block 204) from backend106. The request may include the device ID and/or device fingerprintreceived from user device 102. Backend 106 may generate seed OTPs andverify response OTPs in response to the request from service provider104. In that regard, backend 106 may securely authorize known userdevice 102 accessing sensitive information.

In various embodiments, backend 106 may generate seed OTP (Block 206).The seed OTP may be generated using a random number returned by a randomnumber generator. The seed OTP may be any number of bits in length withgreater lengths tending to increase security. For example, a shorterseed OTP may be 128 bytes in length while a longer seed OTP might be2,002 bytes in length. Backend 106 may send seed OTP (Block 208) toservice provider 104, which may then send seed OTP (Block 210) to userdevice 102.

In various embodiments, user device 102 may then calculate a responseOTP (Block 212). The response OTP may be calculated from the seed OTPusing an algorithm or function known by user device 102 and backend 106that relies in some part on the device ID and/or device fingerprint ofuser device 102. User device 102 and backend 106 may thus independentlygenerate the same response OTP from the same seed OTP and device IDand/or device fingerprint using the same algorithm for authentication.For example, the response OTP may be a device ID concatenated with theseed OTP. A response OTP may also be a hash of the device fingerprintand OTP.

In various embodiments, user device 102 may display an authorizationscreen (Block 214). With brief reference to FIG. 3, authorization screen300 may comprise service details 302 for a user to review and approve.Service details 302 may identify the service provider and interactiontype requesting OTP authorization. For example, service details 302 maycomprise a service identifier, a purpose, a time, a date, a merchantidentifier, an amount, and/or other suitable service details for displaywith an authorization button. The user may select deny button 304 toprevent user device 102 from completing the OTP validation. The user mayalso select authorization button 306 to authorize completion of the OTPvalidation. In response to the user selecting authorization button 306,a response payload may be sent, along with the response OTP, fortransaction validation in response to a user authorizing a transaction.The authorization screen may inform a user and allow for user approvalof the OTP authentication without copying and entering an OTP by hand.Thus, OTPs may be made longer (i.e., more secure) and more convenient(i.e., push button rather than copying) for users.

Returning to FIG. 2, in various embodiments, user device 102 may send aresponse OTP (Block 216) to service provider 104. Service provider 104may then send the response OTP to backend 106 (Block 218). Backend 106may validate the response OTP (Block 220). The response OTP may bevalidated by comparing the response OTP to an expected response OTP. Theexpected response OTP may be generated from the seed OTP using the sameknown function that user device 102 used to generate the response OTP.The validation may succeed in response to the expected response OTPmatching the response OTP. The validation may fail in response to theexpected response OTP calculated by backend 106 not matching theresponse OTP generated by user device 102.

In various embodiments, backend 106 may send the result (Block 222) tooutward facing servers of service provider 104. Service provider 104 maythen send the result to user device 102 (Block 224). User device 102 maydisplay a notification screen in response to receiving the result of theOTP response validation. With reference to FIG. 4, an exemplary successnotification screen 400 is shown. Success notification screen 400 mayinclude authorization information 402 and an OK button 404 displayed onuser device 102 in response to successful response OTP validation.Authorization information 402 may include information identifying aservice and indicating that authorization was successful. For example,authorization information 402 for a purchase transaction may comprise aservice name request, a purpose, a time, a merchant, a merchant locator,and an amount. A user may press OK button 404 to dismiss successnotification screen 400.

With reference to FIG. 5, an exemplary failure notification screen 500is shown, in accordance with various embodiments. Failure notificationscreen 500 may comprise failure information 502 and OK button 504 fordisplay in response to a failed OTP response authentication. Failureinformation 502 may include information identifying the requestingservice and an indication that the authentication failed. Failureinformation for a purchase transaction, for example, may include aservice name request, a purpose, a time, a merchant, and a reason forfailure.

With reference to FIG. 6, system 600 is shown for validating user device102 using a one-time password. System 600 includes user device 102 andservice provider 104. Service provider 104 may operate OTPauthentication services including a seed OTP generator 602 and aresponse OTP validator 604. The OTP seed generator may generate seed OTP616 in response to a request. Seed OTP 616 may be generated using arandom number generator. The seed OTP may be sent to, and received by,an OTP listening service running on user device 102. The OTP listeningservice may wait for incoming seed OTP from service provider 104.

In various embodiments, a security utilities software development kit(SDK) 608 may run on user device 102 and be in communication with OTPlistening service 606. Seed OTP 616 may be passed to security utilitiesSDK 608 for further processing to generate a response OTP. The securityutilities SDK 608 may use device finger print from device finger printmodule 610 to apply a function to the seed OTP and generate response OTP620. Any function may be applied to seed OTP 616 by user device 102 togenerate response OTP 620. Functions that incorporate the devicefingerprint may increase security by making the response OTP devicebound. Integrity module may monitor device health and attest that OTPsystem components running on user device 102 have not been tampered withand are in good health. If integrity module detects that user device 102has been tampered with then system 600 may abort the OTP validationprocess.

In various embodiments, response OTP 620 may be sent by transport OTPmodule 614 to response OTP validator 604 of service provider 104.Response OTP validator 604 may apply the same function to seed OTP 616that user device 102 applied to seed OTP 616 to generate response OTP620. In doing so, response OTP validator 604 may use the devicefingerprint of user device 102, which may be received prior to serviceprovider 104 sending the seed OTP 616 to user device 102.

With reference to FIG. 7, an exemplary process 700 for OTP generationand validation by service provider 104 is shown, in accordance withvarious embodiments. Service provider 104 may receive a service requestand device ID from user device 102 (Block 702). The service request maybe a request for access to sensitive information such as transactionaccount information or personally identifiable information (PII) or adirect request for OTP validation. The device ID, which identifies userdevice 102, may be sent along with the service request or separately.The device ID may be used by service provider 104 in generating anexpected response OTP for validation.

In various embodiments, service provider 104 may then generate a seedOTP (Block 704). The seed OTP may comprise a random number of a desiredlength generated in response to the OTP request. Seed OTP may be usedone time for validation before it is discarded. For example, a seed OTPmay be thousands of bytes in length without creating increasedcomplexity for a user of user device 102. Service provider 104 may sendthe seed OTP to user device 102 (Block 706). Service provider 104 maythen await a response from user device 102. The response may have aparticular time during which the seed OTP is valid. For example, theseed OTP may be invalid 10 minutes after the seed OTP is sent. Aresponse OTP generated from an invalid seed OTP may result in validationfailure.

In various embodiments, service provider 104 may calculate an expectedresponse OTP using the device ID and seed OTP (Block 708). The expectedresponse OTP may be calculated by applying a function to the seed OTP.The function may include the device ID to ensure that a matchingresponse comes from a device that has the same device ID (i.e., userdevice 102). The function may include any suitable function such asmultiplication, concatenation, truncation, hashing, and/or any otherdeterministic function that may also be applied by user device 102.

In various embodiments, service provider 104 may receive a response OTPfrom user device 102 (Block 710). The response OTP may be calculated byuser device in the same manner as the expected response OTP iscalculated by service provider 104. Service provider 104 may thencompare the response OTP with the expected response OTP (Block 712).Service provider 104 may signal authorization success in response to theresponse OTP matching the expected response OTP. Service provider 104may signal authorization failure in response to the response OTP notmatching the expected response OTP. A response OTP generated with adifferent algorithm than the algorithm applied by service provider 104in calculating the expected response OTP may result in validationfailure. Similarly, a response OTP generated from a different seed OTPthan the seed OTP used by service provider 104 in calculating theexpected response OTP may result in validation failure. Likewise, aresponse OTP (generated with a different device ID than the device IDapplied by service provider 104 in calculating the expected responseOTP) may result in validation failure.

The present disclosure provides a system, method, and computer programproduct for authenticating users an enhanced OTP system. By using alonger byte array for the OTP (i.e., longer than the typical 6-characterlength) the authorization techniques of the present disclosure mayimpede attackers and render guessing the OTP statistically prohibitive.The OTP systems in the present disclosure may further improve OTPsecurity by issuing a device-bound OTP based on a device ID belonging toa known and/or registered device. In that regard, the OTP moreaccurately validates that a user is in possession of the registereddevice. Additionally, the push-button automation of the present OTPsystem tends to reduce frustration and time loss resulting from usererror in copying an OTP manually and returning it for validation.

The phrases consumer, customer, user, account holder, account affiliate,account member or the like shall include any person, entity, business,government organization, business, software, hardware, machineassociated with a transaction account, buys merchant offerings offeredby one or more merchants using the account and/or who is legallydesignated for performing transactions on the account, regardless ofwhether a physical account is associated with the account. For example,the account member may include a transaction account owner, atransaction account user, an account affiliate, a child account user, asubsidiary account user, a beneficiary of an account, a custodian of anaccount, and/or any other person or entity affiliated or associated witha transaction account.

Any communication, transmission and/or channel discussed herein mayinclude any system or method for delivering content (e.g. data,information, metadata, etc.), and/or the content itself. The content maybe presented in any form or medium, and in various embodiments, thecontent may be delivered electronically and/or capable of beingpresented electronically. For example, a channel may comprise a websiteor device (e.g., Facebook, YOUTUBE®, APPLE®TV®, PANDORA®, XBOX®, SONY®PLAYSTATION®), a uniform resource locator (“URL”), a document (e.g., aMICROSOFT® Word® document, a MICROSOFT® Excel® document, an ADOBE® .pdfdocument, etc.), an “ebook,” an “emagazine,” an application ormicroapplication (as described herein), an SMS or other type of textmessage, an email, facebook, twitter, MMS and/or other type ofcommunication technology. In various embodiments, a channel may behosted or provided by a data partner. In various embodiments, thedistribution channel may comprise at least one of a merchant website, asocial media website, affiliate or partner websites, an external vendor,a mobile device communication, social media network and/or locationbased service. Distribution channels may include at least one of amerchant website, a social media site, affiliate or partner websites, anexternal vendor, and a mobile device communication. Examples of socialmedia sites include FACEBOOK®, FOURSQUARE®, TWITTER®, MYSPACE®,LINKEDIN®, and the like. Examples of affiliate or partner websitesinclude AMERICAN EXPRESS®, GROUPON®, LIVINGSOCIAL®, and the like.Moreover, examples of mobile device communications include texting,email, and mobile applications for smartphones.

In various embodiments, the methods described herein are implementedusing the various particular machines described herein. The methodsdescribed herein may be implemented using the below particular machines,and those hereinafter developed, in any suitable combination, as wouldbe appreciated immediately by one skilled in the art. Further, as isunambiguous from this disclosure, the methods described herein mayresult in various transformations of certain articles.

For the sake of brevity, conventional data networking, applicationdevelopment and other functional aspects of the systems (and componentsof the individual operating components of the systems) may not bedescribed in detail herein. Furthermore, the connecting lines shown inthe various figures contained herein are intended to represent exemplaryfunctional relationships and/or physical couplings between the variouselements. It should be noted that many alternative or additionalfunctional relationships or physical connections may be present in apractical system.

The various system components discussed herein may include one or moreof the following: a host server or other computing systems including aprocessor for processing digital data; a memory coupled to the processorfor storing digital data; an input digitizer coupled to the processorfor inputting digital data; an application program stored in the memoryand accessible by the processor for directing processing of digital databy the processor; a display device coupled to the processor and memoryfor displaying information derived from digital data processed by theprocessor; and a plurality of databases. Various databases used hereinmay include: client data; merchant data; financial institution data;and/or like data useful in the operation of the system. As those skilledin the art will appreciate, user computer may include an operatingsystem (e.g., WINDOWS® NT®, WINDOWS® 95/98/2000®, WINDOWS® XP®, WINDOWS®Vista®, WINDOWS® 7®, OS2, UNIX®, LINUX®, SOLARIS®, MacOS, etc.) as wellas various conventional support software and drivers typicallyassociated with computers.

The present system or any part(s) or function(s) thereof may beimplemented using hardware, software or a combination thereof and may beimplemented in one or more computer systems or other processing systems.However, the manipulations performed by embodiments were often referredto in terms, such as matching or selecting, which are commonlyassociated with mental operations performed by a human operator. No suchcapability of a human operator is necessary, or desirable in most cases,in any of the operations described herein. Rather, the operations may bemachine operations. Useful machines for performing the variousembodiments include general purpose digital computers or similardevices.

In fact, in various embodiments, the embodiments are directed toward oneor more computer systems capable of carrying out the functionalitydescribed herein. The computer system includes one or more processors,such as processor. The processor is connected to a communicationinfrastructure (e.g., a communications bus, cross over bar, or network).Various software embodiments are described in terms of this exemplarycomputer system. After reading this description, it will become apparentto a person skilled in the relevant art(s) how to implement variousembodiments using other computer systems and/or architectures. Computersystem can include a display interface that forwards graphics, text, andother data from the communication infrastructure (or from a frame buffernot shown) for display on a display unit.

Computer system also includes a main memory, such as for example randomaccess memory (RAM), and may also include a secondary memory. Thesecondary memory may include, for example, a hard disk drive and/or aremovable storage drive, representing a floppy disk drive, a magnetictape drive, an optical disk drive, etc. The removable storage drivereads from and/or writes to a removable storage unit in a well-knownmanner. Removable storage unit represents a floppy disk, magnetic tape,optical disk, etc. which is read by and written to by removable storagedrive. As will be appreciated, the removable storage unit includes acomputer usable storage medium having stored therein computer softwareand/or data.

In various embodiments, secondary memory may include other similardevices for allowing computer programs or other instructions to beloaded into computer system. Such devices may include, for example, aremovable storage unit and an interface. Examples of such may include aprogram cartridge and cartridge interface (such as that found in videogame devices), a removable memory chip (such as an erasable programmableread only memory (EPROM), or programmable read only memory (PROM)) andassociated socket, and other removable storage units and interfaces,which allow software and data to be transferred from the removablestorage unit to computer system.

Computer system may also include a communications interface.Communications interface allows software and data to be transferredbetween computer system and external devices. Examples of communicationsinterface may include a modem, a network interface (such as an Ethernetaccount), a communications port, a Personal Computer Memory AccountInternational Association (PCMCIA) slot and account, etc. Software anddata transferred via communications interface are in the form of signalswhich may be electronic, electromagnetic, optical or other signalscapable of being received by communications interface. These signals areprovided to communications interface via a communications path (e.g.,channel). This channel carries signals and may be implemented usingwire, cable, fiber optics, a telephone line, a cellular link, a radiofrequency (RF) link, wireless and other communications channels.

The terms “computer program medium” and “computer usable medium” and“computer readable medium” are used to generally refer to media such asremovable storage drive and a hard disk installed in hard disk drive.These computer program products provide software to computer system.

Computer programs (also referred to as computer control logic) arestored in main memory and/or secondary memory. Computer programs mayalso be received via communications interface. Such computer programs,when executed, enable the computer system to perform the features asdiscussed herein. In particular, the computer programs, when executed,enable the processor to perform the features of various embodiments.Accordingly, such computer programs represent controllers of thecomputer system.

In various embodiments, software may be stored in a computer programproduct and loaded into computer system using removable storage drive,hard disk drive or communications interface. The control logic(software), when executed by the processor, causes the processor toperform the functions of various embodiments as described herein. Invarious embodiments, hardware components such as application specificintegrated circuits (ASICs). Implementation of the hardware statemachine so as to perform the functions described herein will be apparentto persons skilled in the relevant art(s).

In various embodiments, the server may include application servers (e.g.WEB SPHERE, WEB LOGIC, and JBOSS). In various embodiments, the servermay include web servers (e.g. APACHE, IIS, GWS, SUN JAVA® SYSTEM WEBSERVER).

A web client includes any device (e.g., personal computer) whichcommunicates via any network, for example such as those discussedherein. Such browser applications comprise Internet browsing softwareinstalled within a computing unit or a system to conduct onlinetransactions and/or communications. These computing units or systems maytake the form of a computer or set of computers, although other types ofcomputing units or systems may be used, including laptops, notebooks,tablets, hand held computers, personal digital assistants, set-topboxes, workstations, computer-servers, main frame computers,mini-computers, PC servers, pervasive computers, network sets ofcomputers, personal computers, such as IPADS®, IMACS®, and MACBOOKS®,kiosks, terminals, point of sale (POS) devices and/or terminals,televisions, or any other device capable of receiving data over anetwork. A web-client may run MICROSOFT® INTERNET EXPLORER®, MOZILLA®FIREFOX®, GOOGLE® CHROME®, APPLE® Safari, or any other of the myriadsoftware packages available for browsing the internet.

Practitioners will appreciate that a web client may or may not be indirect contact with an application server. For example, a web client mayaccess the services of an application server through another serverand/or hardware component, which may have a direct or indirectconnection to an Internet server. For example, a web client maycommunicate with an application server via a load balancer. In variousembodiments, access is through a network or the Internet through acommercially-available web-browser software package.

As those skilled in the art will appreciate, a web client includes anoperating system (e.g., WINDOWS® NT®, 95/98/2000/CE/Mobile, OS2, UNIX®,LINUX®, SOLARIS®, MacOS, PALM®OS®, etc.) as well as various conventionalsupport software and drivers typically associated with computers. A webclient may include any suitable personal computer, network computer,workstation, personal digital assistant, cellular phone, smart phone,minicomputer, mainframe or the like. A web client can be in a home orbusiness environment with access to a network. In various embodiments,access is through a network or the Internet through a commerciallyavailable web-browser software package. A web client may implementsecurity protocols such as Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) and TransportLayer Security (TLS). A web client may implement several applicationlayer protocols including http, https, ftp, and sftp.

In various embodiments, components, modules, and/or engines of system100 may be implemented as micro-applications or micro-apps. Micro-appsare typically deployed in the context of a mobile operating system,including for example, a PALM® mobile operating system, a WINDOWS®mobile operating system, an ANDROID® Operating System, APPLE® IOS®, aBLACKBERRY® operating system and the like. The micro-app may beconfigured to leverage the resources of the larger operating system andassociated hardware via a set of predetermined rules which govern theoperations of various operating systems and hardware resources. Forexample, where a micro-app desires to communicate with a device ornetwork other than the mobile device or mobile operating system, themicro-app may leverage the communication protocol of the operatingsystem and associated device hardware under the predetermined rules ofthe mobile operating system. Moreover, where the micro-app desires aninput from a user, the micro-app may be configured to request a responsefrom the operating system which monitors various hardware components andthen communicates a detected input from the hardware to the micro-app.

The various system components may be independently, separately orcollectively suitably coupled to the network via data links whichincludes, for example, a connection to an Internet Service Provider(ISP) over the local loop as is typically used in connection withstandard modem communication, cable modem, Dish Networks®, ISDN, DigitalSubscriber Line (DSL), or various wireless communication methods, see,e.g., GILBERT HELD, UNDERSTANDING DATA COMMUNICATIONS (1996), which ishereby incorporated by reference. It is noted that the network may beimplemented as other types of networks, such as an interactivetelevision (ITV) network. Moreover, the system contemplates the use,sale or distribution of any goods, services or information over anynetwork having similar functionality described herein.

As used herein, “transmit” may include sending electronic data from onesystem component to another over a network connection. Additionally, asused herein, “data” may include encompassing information such ascommands, queries, files, data for storage, and the like in digital orany other form.

The system contemplates uses in association with web services, utilitycomputing, pervasive and individualized computing, security and identitysolutions, autonomic computing, cloud computing, commodity computing,mobility and wireless solutions, open source, biometrics, grid computingand/or mesh computing.

The computers discussed herein may provide a suitable website or otherInternet-based graphical user interface which is accessible by users. Inone embodiment, the MICROSOFT® INTERNET INFORMATION SERVICES® (IIS),MICROSOFT® Transaction Server (MTS), and MICROSOFT® SQL Server, are usedin conjunction with the MICROSOFT® operating system, MICROSOFT® NT webserver software, a MICROSOFT® SQL Server database system, and aMICROSOFT® Commerce Server. Additionally, components such as Access orMICROSOFT® SQL Server, ORACLE®, Sybase, Informix MySQL, Interbase, etc.,may be used to provide an Active Data Object (ADO) compliant databasemanagement system. In one embodiment, the Apache web server is used inconjunction with a Linux operating system, a MySQL database, and thePerl, PHP, and/or Python programming languages.

Any of the communications, inputs, storage, databases or displaysdiscussed herein may be facilitated through a website having web pages.The term “web page” as it is used herein is not meant to limit the typeof documents and applications that might be used to interact with theuser. For example, a typical website might include, in addition tostandard HTML documents, various forms, JAVA® APPLE®ts, JAVASCRIPT,active server pages (ASP), common gateway interface scripts (CGI),extensible markup language (XML), dynamic HTML, cascading style sheets(CSS), AJAX (Asynchronous JAVASCRIPT And XML), helper applications,plug-ins, and the like. A server may include a web service that receivesa request from a web server, the request including a URL and an IPaddress (123.56.789.234). The web server retrieves the appropriate webpages and sends the data or applications for the web pages to the IPaddress. Web services are applications that are capable of interactingwith other applications over a communications means, such as theinternet. Web services are typically based on standards or protocolssuch as XML, SOAP, AJAX, WSDL and UDDI. Web services methods are wellknown in the art, and are covered in many standard texts. See, e.g.,ALEX NGHIEM, IT WEB SERVICES: A ROADMAP FOR THE ENTERPRISE (2003),hereby incorporated by reference.

Middleware may include any hardware and/or software suitably configuredto facilitate communications and/or process transactions betweendisparate computing systems. Middleware components are commerciallyavailable and known in the art. Middleware may be implemented throughcommercially available hardware and/or software, through custom hardwareand/or software components, or through a combination thereof. Middlewaremay reside in a variety of configurations and may exist as a standalonesystem or may be a software component residing on the Internet server.Middleware may be configured to process transactions between the variouscomponents of an application server and any number of internal orexternal systems for any of the purposes disclosed herein. WEBSPHERE MQ™(formerly MQSeries) by IBM®, Inc. (Armonk, N.Y.) is an example of acommercially available middleware product. An Enterprise Service Bus(“ESB”) application is another example of middleware.

Practitioners will also appreciate that there are a number of methodsfor displaying data within a browser-based document. Data may berepresented as standard text or within a fixed list, scrollable list,drop-down list, editable text field, fixed text field, pop-up window,and the like. Likewise, there are a number of methods available formodifying data in a web page such as, for example, free text entry usinga keyboard, selection of menu items, check boxes, option boxes, and thelike.

The system and method may be described herein in terms of functionalblock components, screen shots, optional selections and variousprocessing steps. It should be appreciated that such functional blocksmay be realized by any number of hardware and/or software componentsconfigured to perform the specified functions. For example, the systemmay employ various integrated circuit components, e.g., memory elements,processing elements, logic elements, look-up tables, and the like, whichmay carry out a variety of functions under the control of one or moremicroprocessors or other control devices. Similarly, the softwareelements of the system may be implemented with any programming orscripting language such as C, C++, C#, JAVA®, JAVASCRIPT, VBScript,Macromedia Cold Fusion, COBOL, MICROSOFT® Active Server Pages, assembly,PERL, PHP, awk, Python, Visual Basic, SQL Stored Procedures, PL/SQL, anyUNIX shell script, and extensible markup language (XML) with the variousalgorithms being implemented with any combination of data structures,objects, processes, routines or other programming elements. Further, itshould be noted that the system may employ any number of conventionaltechniques for data transmission, signaling, data processing, networkcontrol, and the like. Still further, the system could be used to detector prevent security issues with a client-side scripting language, suchas JAVASCRIPT, VBScript or the like. For a basic introduction ofcryptography and network security, see any of the following references:(1) “Applied Cryptography: Protocols, Algorithms, And Source Code In C,”by Bruce Schneier, published by John Wiley & Sons (second edition,1995); (2) “JAVA® Cryptography” by Jonathan Knudson, published byO'Reilly & Associates (1998); (3) “Cryptography & Network Security:Principles & Practice” by William Stallings, published by Prentice Hall;all of which are hereby incorporated by reference.

As will be appreciated by one of ordinary skill in the art, the systemmay be embodied as a customization of an existing system, an add-onproduct, a processing apparatus executing upgraded software, astandalone system, a distributed system, a method, a data processingsystem, a device for data processing, and/or a computer program product.Accordingly, any portion of the system or a module may take the form ofa processing apparatus executing code, an internet based embodiment, anentirely hardware embodiment, or an embodiment combining aspects of theinternet, software and hardware. Furthermore, the system may take theform of a computer program product on a computer-readable storage mediumhaving computer-readable program code means embodied in the storagemedium. Any suitable computer-readable storage medium may be utilized,including hard disks, CD-ROM, optical storage devices, magnetic storagedevices, and/or the like.

The system and method is described herein with reference to screenshots, block diagrams and flowchart illustrations of methods, apparatus(e.g., systems), and computer program products according to variousembodiments. It will be understood that each functional block of theblock diagrams and the flowchart illustrations, and combinations offunctional blocks in the block diagrams and flowchart illustrations,respectively, can be implemented by computer program instructions.

These computer program instructions may be loaded onto a general purposecomputer, special purpose computer, or other programmable dataprocessing apparatus to produce a machine, such that the instructionsthat execute on the computer or other programmable data processingapparatus create means for implementing the functions specified in theflowchart block or blocks. These computer program instructions may alsobe stored in a computer-readable memory that can direct a computer orother programmable data processing apparatus to function in a particularmanner, such that the instructions stored in the computer-readablememory produce an article of manufacture including instruction meanswhich implement the function specified in the flowchart block or blocks.The computer program instructions may also be loaded onto a computer orother programmable data processing apparatus to cause a series ofoperational steps to be performed on the computer or other programmableapparatus to produce a computer-implemented process such that theinstructions which execute on the computer or other programmableapparatus provide steps for implementing the functions specified in theflowchart block or blocks.

Accordingly, functional blocks of the block diagrams and flowchartillustrations support combinations of means for performing the specifiedfunctions, combinations of steps for performing the specified functions,and program instruction means for performing the specified functions. Itwill also be understood that each functional block of the block diagramsand flowchart illustrations, and combinations of functional blocks inthe block diagrams and flowchart illustrations, can be implemented byeither special purpose hardware-based computer systems which perform thespecified functions or steps, or suitable combinations of specialpurpose hardware and computer instructions. Further, illustrations ofthe process flows and the descriptions thereof may make reference touser WINDOWS®, webpages, websites, web forms, prompts, etc.Practitioners will appreciate that the illustrated steps describedherein may comprise in any number of configurations including the use ofWINDOWS®, webpages, web forms, popup WINDOWS®, prompts and the like. Itshould be further appreciated that the multiple steps as illustrated anddescribed may be combined into single webpages and/or WINDOWS® but havebeen expanded for the sake of simplicity. In other cases, stepsillustrated and described as single process steps may be separated intomultiple webpages and/or WINDOWS® but have been combined for simplicity.

The term “non-transitory” is to be understood to remove only propagatingtransitory signals per se from the claim scope and does not relinquishrights to all standard computer-readable media that are not onlypropagating transitory signals per se. Stated another way, the meaningof the term “non-transitory computer-readable medium” and“non-transitory computer-readable storage medium” should be construed toexclude only those types of transitory computer-readable media whichwere found in In Re Nuijten to fall outside the scope of patentablesubject matter under 35 U.S.C. § 101.

The system may include or interface with any of the foregoing accounts,devices, and/or a transponder and reader (e.g. RFID reader) in RFcommunication with the transponder (which may include a fob), orcommunications between an initiator and a target enabled by near fieldcommunications (NFC). Typical devices may include, for example, a keyring, tag, account, cell phone, wristwatch or any such form capable ofbeing presented for interrogation. Moreover, the system, computing unitor device discussed herein may include a “pervasive computing device,”which may include a traditionally non-computerized device that isembedded with a computing unit. Examples may include watches, Internetenabled kitchen appliances, restaurant tables embedded with RF readers,wallets or purses with imbedded transponders, etc. Furthermore, a deviceor financial transaction instrument may have electronic andcommunications functionality enabled, for example, by: a network ofelectronic circuitry that is printed or otherwise incorporated onto orwithin the transaction instrument (and typically referred to as a “smartaccount”); a fob having a transponder and an RFID reader; and/or nearfield communication (NFC) technologies. For more information regardingNFC, refer to the following specifications all of which are incorporatedby reference herein: ISO/IEC 18092/ECMA-340, Near Field CommunicationInterface and Protocol-1 (NFCIP-1); ISO/IEC 21481/ECMA-352, Near FieldCommunication Interface and Protocol-2 (NFCIP-2); and EMV 4.2 availableat http://www.emvco.com/default.aspx.

Phrases and terms similar to “internal data” or “personally identifiableinformation” may include any data a credit issuer possesses or acquirespertaining to a particular consumer. Internal data may be gatheredbefore, during, or after a relationship between the credit issuer andthe transaction account holder (e.g., the consumer or buyer). Such datamay include consumer demographic data. Consumer demographic dataincludes any data pertaining to a consumer. Consumer demographic datamay include consumer name, address, telephone number, email address,employer and social security number. Consumer transactional data is anydata pertaining to the particular transactions in which a consumerengages during any given time period. Consumer transactional data mayinclude, for example, transaction amount, transaction time, transactionvendor/merchant, and transaction vendor/merchant location.

Systems, methods and computer program products are provided. In thedetailed description herein, references to “various embodiments”, “oneembodiment”, “an embodiment”, “an example embodiment”, etc., indicatethat the embodiment described may include a particular feature,structure, or characteristic, but every embodiment may not necessarilyinclude the particular feature, structure, or characteristic. Moreover,such phrases are not necessarily referring to the same embodiment.Further, when a particular feature, structure, or characteristic isdescribed in connection with an embodiment, it is submitted that it iswithin the knowledge of one skilled in the art to affect such feature,structure, or characteristic in connection with other embodimentswhether or not explicitly described. After reading the description, itwill be apparent to one skilled in the relevant art(s) how to implementthe disclosure in alternative embodiments.

Benefits, other advantages, and solutions to problems have beendescribed herein with regard to specific embodiments. However, thebenefits, advantages, solutions to problems, and any elements that maycause any benefit, advantage, or solution to occur or become morepronounced are not to be construed as critical, required, or essentialfeatures or elements of the disclosure. The scope of the disclosure isaccordingly to be limited by nothing other than the appended claims, inwhich reference to an element in the singular is not intended to mean“one and only one” unless explicitly so stated, but rather “one ormore.”

Moreover, where a phrase similar to ‘at least one of A, B, and C’ or ‘atleast one of A, B, or C’ is used in the claims or specification, it isintended that the phrase be interpreted to mean that A alone may bepresent in an embodiment, B alone may be present in an embodiment, Calone may be present in an embodiment, or that any combination of theelements A, B and C may be present in a single embodiment; for example,A and B, A and C, B and C, or A and B and C. Although the disclosureincludes a method, it is contemplated that it may be embodied ascomputer program instructions on a tangible computer-readable carrier,such as a magnetic or optical memory or a magnetic or optical disk. Allstructural, chemical, and functional equivalents to the elements of theabove-described exemplary embodiments that are known to those ofordinary skill in the art are expressly incorporated herein by referenceand are intended to be encompassed by the present claims. Moreover, itis not necessary for a device or method to address each and everyproblem sought to be solved by the present disclosure, for it to beencompassed by the present claims.

Furthermore, no element, component, or method step in the presentdisclosure is intended to be dedicated to the public regardless ofwhether the element, component, or method step is explicitly recited inthe claims. No claim element herein is to be construed under theprovisions of 35 U.S.C. 112 (f) unless the element is expressly recitedusing the phrase “means for.” As used herein, the terms “comprises”,“comprising”, or any other variation thereof, are intended to cover anon-exclusive inclusion, such that a process, method, article, orapparatus that comprises a list of elements does not include only thoseelements but may include other elements not expressly listed or inherentto such process, method, article, or apparatus.

We claim:
 1. A method comprising: receiving, by a processor, a servicerequest, wherein the service request includes a device identifier of auser device or a device fingerprint of the user device; transmitting, bythe processor, a seed one-time password (OTP) to the user device,wherein the seed OTP comprises a random number that is valid for apredetermined time period and is discarded after first use; receiving,by the processor, a response OTP generated by the user device, whereinthe response OTP is different from the seed OTP; calculating, by theprocessor, an expected response OTP by applying a hash function to theseed OTP, wherein the hash function is based on the device identifier ofthe user device or the device fingerprint of the user device receivedfrom the service request; determining, by the processor, that theresponse OTP satisfies the expected response OTP; and sending, by theprocessor to the user device, a result in response to the determiningoperation.
 2. The method of claim 1, further comprising generating, bythe processor, the seed OTP.
 3. The method of claim 1, furthercomprising transmitting, by the processor, the seed OTP to an OTPvalidation server.
 4. The method of claim 1, wherein the response OTP isgenerated in response to an integrity module confirming that the userdevice is in good health based on the seed OTP being passed to asecurity utilities software development kit (SDK) on the user device. 5.The method of claim 1, wherein the response OTP is generated using thehash function.
 6. The method of claim 1, wherein in response toreceiving the result from the processor, the user device requestsconfirmation.
 7. The method of claim 1, wherein the seed OTP istransmitted in response to receiving the service request.
 8. The methodof claim 1, wherein in response to receiving the result from theprocessor, the user device displays a success notification screen,wherein the success notification screen is displayed along with at leastone of a service name request, a purpose, a time, a merchant, a merchantlocator, or an amount.
 9. The method of claim 1, wherein the responseOTP is transmitted by the user device to the processor in response to anauthorization button being selected.
 10. The method of claim 1, whereinthe seed OTP is transmitted to the user device with an authorizationpayload including at least one of a service identifier, a purpose, atime, a date, a merchant identifier, or an amount of the seed OTP fordisplay with an authorization button.
 11. The method of claim 1, whereinthe response OTP is received from the user device via text message. 12.The method of claim 1, further comprising transmitting, by theprocessor, the seed OTP to the user device via text message.
 13. Themethod of claim 1, wherein the seed OTP comprises a random number of atleast 128 bytes in length.
 14. A computer-based system, comprising: aprocessor; and a tangible, non-transitory memory configured tocommunicate with the processor, the tangible, non-transitory memoryhaving instructions stored thereon that, in response to execution by theprocessor, cause the processor to perform operations comprising:receiving, by the processor, a service request, wherein the servicerequest includes a device identifier of a user device or a devicefingerprint of the user device; transmitting, by the processor, a seedone-time password (OTP) to the user device, wherein the seed OTPcomprises a random number that is valid for a predetermined time periodand is discarded after first use; receiving, by the processor, aresponse OTP generated by the user device, wherein the response OTP isdifferent from the seed OTP; calculating, by the processor, an expectedresponse OTP by applying a hash function to the seed OTP, wherein thehash function is based on the device identifier of the user device orthe device fingerprint of the user device; determining, by theprocessor, that the response OTP satisfies the expected response OTP;and sending, by the processor, a result in response to the determiningoperation.
 15. The system of claim 14, wherein the response OTP isgenerated in response to an integrity module confirming that the userdevice is in good health based on the seed OTP being passed to asecurity utilities software development kit (SDK) on the user device.16. The system of claim 14, wherein the response OTP is generated usingthe hash function.
 17. The system of claim 14, wherein the seed OTP istransmitted in response to receiving the service request.
 18. The systemof claim 14, wherein the seed OTP comprises a random number of at least128 bytes in length.
 19. A method comprising: transmitting, by a usercomputer to a host, a service request, wherein the service requestincludes a device identifier of the user computer or a devicefingerprint of the user computer; receiving, by the user computer andfrom a host, a seed one-time password (OTP), wherein the seed OTPcomprises a random number that is valid for a predetermined time periodand is discarded after first use; generating, by the user computer, aresponse OTP, wherein the response OTP is different from the seed OTP;and transmitting, by the user computer and to the host, the responseOTP, wherein the host calculates an expected response OTP by applying ahash function to the seed OTP, wherein the hash function is based on thedevice identifier of the user computer or the device fingerprint of theuser computer, wherein the host determines that the response OTPsatisfies the expected response OTP; and wherein the host sends a resultin response to the host determining that the response OTP satisfies theexpected response OTP.
 20. The method of claim 19, wherein the seed OTPis received over a second communication channel from the host.